


Next to Me

by 5ftjewishcactus



Series: The Anderson Family [1]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alive Cole Anderson, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Domestic Fluff, Family Fluff, M/M, Married Couple
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-28
Updated: 2018-10-28
Packaged: 2019-08-08 19:49:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16435727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/5ftjewishcactus/pseuds/5ftjewishcactus
Summary: In an alternate timeline where Cole is still alive and Hank and Connor still meet and fall in love, the three Anderson boys and their faithful furry companion have wonderful, family adventures.





	1. Some people call this wisdom

**Author's Note:**

> Series of prompts written for Fictober that inspired some Anderson Family Fluff. Decided they needed to be separate from the more explicit or angsty prompts.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hank comes home after a rough case and spends it with his husband and son, glad to have them to come home to despite the ugliness of the world.

The sound of laughter and a barking dog greeted Hank as he reached the front door. He took a deep breath, letting the tension of the day melt away. He didn't want his family to know he'd had a rough day. Didn't want to ruin their fun. With a smile, he opened the front door. Inside, his nine year old son Cole was chasing their dog Sumo around the living room.

"Papa!" Cole shouted excitedly, running at Hank.

Hank caught Cole and lifted him up to hug him. "Hey peanut!"

Hank held his son close, his warmth and liveliness melting any remaining tension from the day.

"Papa, I can't breath," Cole teased.

"Sorry peanut. Papa just missed you," Hank replied, putting Cole down. "Did you have a fun day?"

"Yeah! Dad took me to the aquarium! We saw so many fish!"

"You did? Which was your favorite fish?"

"The hammerhead shark!"

"They have a hammerhead shark at the aquarium?"

"An android one," Connor said, from the kitchen door.

Hank turned to look at his husband and smiled. Connor walked over and kissed Hank on the cheek.

"I'm glad you're home," he said.

"Me too. Rough day."

Connor nodded and rubbed Hank's back. They'd agreed that work talk would be left for work but that if things cases brought up needed to be talked about, it would be done after Cole had gone to bed. He was only nine, he didn't need to know the ugliness of the world just yet.

"Is dinner almost ready?" Cole asked.

"Yes it is. Go wash up," Connor replied.

Cole raced off towards the bathroom. Connor turned his full attention to Hank, pulling Hank in for a hug.

"I'm sorry you had a rough day," he said.

"Yeah." Hank held to Connor tightly, almost as tightly as he'd held Cole earlier. "I'm glad you and Cole had fun though."

"Would've been more fun with you there too."

Hank nodded. "Next time."

Connor pulled back and looked at Hank, one hand reached up to cup Hank's cheek and rub along the edge of his beard.

"I love you," Hank said.

"I love you, too," Connor replied.

Hank kissed him.

"Ew," Cole said. "Dads kissing."

Hank chuckled. "Come here you."

Cole gladly raced over and Hank hoisted him up again, balancing the boy on his hip as he kept one arm around Connor.

"I love you both, so much," he said.

"We love you, too, Papa," Cole replied.

Hank kissed Cole's cheek. Cole hugged his father again. Hank closed his eyes and just let himself have that moment, with his son and husband in his arms. Tried not to think about the case, about the poor family fractured into pieces.

"Okay, dinner's getting cold," Hank said.

He set Cole down and watched him race into the kitchen. Connor looked up at Hank, LED flashing yellow a moment.

"I'll be okay," Hank said. "I promise."

Connor nodded. "Love you."

"Love you, too."

Hank kept his arm around Connor's back as they headed to the kitchen. Cole was seated at the table, waiting not so patiently for dinner to be served. Hank let go of Connor so he could join his son at the table while Connor grabbed dinner from the stove. He'd made spaghetti with squash and mushrooms, seasoned with garlic and Italian herbs.

"We may have stopped to buy ice cream for dessert," Connor said, setting the serving dish down in the center of the table.

"Oh, ice cream?" Hank asked.

"Rocky road!" Cole exclaimed.

"Good pick, peanut," Hank grinned.

"No ice cream unless you eat all your dinner," Connor said.

"Yes dad."

Hank dished up spaghetti for Cole and himself. Connor dished up a smaller helping for himself. While he'd installed an upgrade that allowed him to eat, he still ate less than either Hank or Cole, since he didn't need it to survive. He ate because he liked to, like the time enjoying food with his family. It was also nice to have him eating with them, then just sitting there watching them eat.

Hank listened while his son excitedly told him about the other fish they'd seen at the aquarium around mouthfuls of food. The case was still at the back of his mind, always would be until it was solved. Sometimes even after. After all his years as a cop, the fact that cases still affected him wasn't actually a bad thing. Reminded him that he was still human, still alive, still had a reason to keep fighting, to find the bad guys and put them away. To keep the world safe for his son. Some people might've thought Hank foolish, but Hank liked to think of it as wisdom.


	2. I thought you had forgotten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connor wakes up to a birthday surprise from his son and husband.

Sometimes the ability to sleep was a wonderful thing. Connor had been at work late the night before, processing evidence from his and Hank's newest case. He'd told Hank to go home without him, could process through the evidence faster and they always tried to have one of them home for dinner with Cole. As much as Connor would've liked to have been home for dinner with his family, the evidence needed to be processed if they were going to solve the case.

By the time he'd come home, Cole was already in bed and Hank not to far behind him. Connor had gone to kiss Cole good night, a promise they'd made the first time one of them had worked late. Cole seemed to sleep better once he knew both his parents were home. Connor didn't blame him. He slept better knowing Cole and Hank were safe.

After the late night and the difficulty of the case, Connor had curled into bed with Hank and fallen asleep. He'd known he'd been a little on edge, a little frayed, but he hadn't expected to go into stasis when he'd fallen asleep. Sleeping and stasis weren't too different. Waking up from either always left Connor feeling better, more alert and focused. Sleeping regularly meant he didn't need to enter stasis nearly as often.

Sleeping while also in stasis meant that Hank could easily sneak out of bed without Connor knowing. Meant that his husband and his son could surprise him.

"Surprise!" Cole shouted, standing by the edge of the bed.

He was carefully holding a tray containing a plate of pancakes, a cup of coffee, and a glass of thirium. Behind him stood Hank, holding a giant balloon that said "Happy birthday!" in bright bubbly letters in one hand and a bouquet of flowers in the other. Sumo stood next to Cole, mostly interested in the plate of pancakes, but drooling happily at the excitement.

"What's all this?" Connor asked, sitting up.

"Papa and I made you birthday breakfast," Cole replied.

"Birthday?" Connor asked.

Hank shrugged. "You said your activation day was August 15th. Seems as good a day as any to celebrate a birthday."

Connor grinned. "You remembered."

"Of course I did."

"I remembered too, dad!" Cole added.

"Thank you. Both of you."

Cole stepped forward and carefully handed the tray to Connor, who set it on his lap. He pat the bed next to him and Cole climbed onto the end of the bed and up to sit next to Connor.

"Thank you, for my birthday breakfast," Connor said, pulling Cole in for a hug.

"You're welcome, dad. I love you."

"I love you, too."

Connor kissed the top of Cole's head. Hank watched the two of them with a great big smile on his face. He set the bouquet down on the bedside table and tied the string of the balloon to the drawer handle. He then sat down on Cole's other side. Connor reached behind Cole to cup Hank's face and rub his cheek.

"Love you," Hank said.

"Love you, too," Connor replied.

"Daaaaad," Cole said, elongating the word. "Eat your breakfast. Papa and I have plans for today!"

"Plans? What about work?"

"Gavin and Cain are helping with the case. We deserve a day off."

"Yeah dad, a day off. Now eat!"

Connor chuckled, but did as he son said. The pancakes were whole wheat with chocolate chips. The coffee had dairy free French vanilla creamer. The thirium was just thirium which was for the best because outside of the alcoholic variant, anything mixed with thirium made it less effective.

While Connor ate his breakfast, Cole explained that Hank had helped him buy tickets for the local zoo and they had a picnic lunch planned at the park outside the zoo where Aunt Sara would meet them with Sumo and then they were going to go to the dog park.

Once Connor was done eating, he set the tray aside and pulled Cole onto his lap, giving the boy a great big hug.

"Thank you again. For all of it. Today is going to be a great birthday," he said.

"I love you, dad. When papa said you'd never had a birthday, I knew we had to fix that. Everyone deserves a birthday."

"Yes, they do. I love you."

Connor kissed Cole's cheek.

"Daaad," Cole groaned.

Connor chuckled. "Go get dressed so we can go to the zoo."

"Yay!"

Cole jumped up from the bed and raced down the hall to his room. Connor turned his attention to Hank.

"I love you. Thank you," Connor said, shifting closer to Hank. "You didn't have to do any of this."

"Yeah I did. You deserve all of it. And more." Hank leaned in and kissed him. "I love you. Happy birthday."

Connor kissed his husband again.

"Dads! Hurry up!" Cole shouted.

Connor and Hank both laughed causing Sumo to bark as he raced out of the room. Connor couldn't blame his son's impatience. He was excited for the day too. It was going to be a good one.


	3. This is gonna be so much fun!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hank, Connor, and Cole celebrate Halloween together, their first Halloween as a family and Connor's first ever Halloween as a free android.

“This is gonna be so much fun!” Cole exclaimed.

He was dressed in his Luke Skywalker ala Return of the Jedi Halloween costume. He swung his toy lightsaber around the living room, while Sumo barked excitedly next to him.

“Yes it is,” Connor agreed. “Our first Halloween as a family.”

Connor was dressed as Han Solo ala A New Hope.

“Papa, hurry up!” Cole shouted.

Hank grumbled as he stepped out of the bedroom. He was dressed as Princess Leia ala A New Hope. He still had his beard because he refused to shave it and he had his hair down but had worn a pair of earmuffs meant to look like Leia’s trademark buns.

“I can’t believe you two talked me into this,” he said. “I look stupid.”

“You look great,” Connor reassured.

“Yeah papa! You look great!” Cole added.

Hank smiled. It was hard to be too grumpy in front of the endless enthusiasm of the two most important people in his life.

“Alright, lets go before I change my mind,” Hank said.

Cole grabbed his candy bucket which looked like Darth Vader’s mask. Connor put Sumo’s leash on him. Hank didn’t like the idea of leaving him home alone with kids running around outside plus Cole had said he could be their honorary Chewbacca.

“Ready,” Connor said with a nod.

Cole grinned and threw open the front door. A cold blast of late October air hit them. Detroit’s weather had decided it would be in the low thirties, which was better than negative twenty and snow like it had been Cole’s first proper Halloween. Still Hank had insisted they all bundle up. Cole wore several layers under his costume. Hank himself had a thick pair of long johns on underneath his white dress. Connor even had an extra layer on underneath his shirt and vest to help keep the cold from affecting his thirium pump.

As they headed down the street, Hank and Connor stood at the end of each walkway leading to another door with Sumo as Cole went up to knock or ring a door bell to receive his prized candy. Their elderly neighbor, Margot, who regularly watched Cole insisted on seeing all three of them together.

“Good to see the love for Star Wars continue on,” she smiled at the three of them.

A few more of their neighbors that they knew in passing complimented their matching costumes. A few older kids walking their younger siblings snickered and muttered comments under their breathe, but Hank managed to ignore them. Mainly because of his family. He’d been surprised when Cole had wanted to do a family costume. Sure, it was their first Halloween as a family and Connor’s first real Halloween.

But Cole was ten now. Hank figured he’d want to dress up as something of his own and go trick-or-treating with his friends. His best friend’s mom had even offered to take him but Cole had insisted that he was going trick-or-treating with his dads. Dads. Hearing Cole say it still warmed Hank’s heart. While he and Connor weren’t yet legally married, android-human marriage was still a little ways off from being legalized, as far as they were concerned, they might as well have been. And Cole loved Connor as much as Hank did. Had started calling him dad three months after he’d moved in with them.

Connor had cried the first time, overwhelmed that Cole saw him as not just family but as a parent. Now whenever Cole called him dad, he beamed. He felt so blessed to be Cole’s dad. And Hank’s husband.

“Dad! Dad, do the trick!” Cole said while excitedly jumping up and down in front of Connor.

Two of Cole’s friends were standing behind him, waiting for this amazing trick.

Connor, using his voice modulator to perfectly mimic Harrison Ford, said “Never tell me the odds.”

Cole laughed as his friends cheered excitedly.

“Do another one!”

“You’ve never heard of the Millennium Falcon? It’s the ship that made the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs.”

Cole’s friends cheered again. Hank smiled. He sometimes worried, after the revolution, how other people would react to Connor. And to he and Connor. So far most people had been pretty accepting. The school hadn’t blinked an eye when Hank had shown up and requested Connor be put on as Cole’s second parent and emergency contact. Cole’s friends were impressed with Connor as an android and their parents liked seeing Hank happy.

“Never upset a Wookiee,” Connor said, in Ford’s voice and as if on cue, Sumo barked.

“Alright, time to get a move on. Too cold for all four of us to be standing out here chitchatting. Back to trick-or-treating, kids,” Hank said.

The kids ran off to the next house. Connor linked arms with Hank as they walked behind them to meet them at the next walkway.

“Thank you for coming out with us,” Connor said.

“As long as Cole wants me to, I’ll gladly bring him trick-or-treating. And I’m glad to share it with you,” Hank replies. “Even if I feel ridiculous.”

“Well you don’t like ridiculous. I think you look very attractive.”

Hank smiled shyly. He'd spent so many years alone, or struggling to find someone who loved him for who he was, that sometimes being around Connor, who loved all of him unabashedly and unashamed, could be overwhelming. But in a good way.

They walked with Cole and his friends and his friends' parents a few more blocks. Connor and Hank chitchatted with the other parents, talking about the upcoming PTA meeting, and other unimportant nonsense to pass the time. The kids were busy chatting away about their various candy prizes as well as the candy apple they'd been given by one ambitious neighbor.

As the night progressed, the night became colder and the kids more tired. Eventually they made their way back home. Hank allowed Cole to have two pieces of candy before putting the rest away in a cupboard in the kitchen to ration over the next few weeks. Connor tucked Cole into bed, Sumo curled up at the end of Cole's bed to take his place as Cole's guard dog.

Hank had changed into his pajamas once they were home. Connor leaned against the bedroom door, smiling as he watched Hank carefully hang up and put away his Princess Leia costume. Hank turned around to see Connor watching him and smiled back.

"I love you," Hank said.

"I know," Connor replied, with a smirk.

"Don't you Han Solo me you... you scoundrel."

Connor walked up to Hank, speaking with Ford's voice. "You like me because I'm a scoundrel. There aren't enough scoundrels in your life."

Hank took a deep breath. "That's so not fair. You can't use my crush on Harrison Ford against me."

Connor chuckled. "I only tease you because I love you."

Hank shook his head even as he put his arms around Connor's waist. "Yeah, love you, too."

Connor gently tugged Hank's beard, pulling him in for a kiss.

"Come on, Princess, let's go to bed."

Connor winked and Hank knew, with Connor still dressed as Han Solo, that he was in for a very fun Halloween night.


	4. I'll tell you but you're not gonna like it

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cole gets in trouble at school. Hank uses it as a teaching moment for his son.

Hank looked between his son, who was seated at the kitchen table with his hands folded in his lap and his head down, and his husband, who was looking very stern while his LED pulsed yellow.

“Just tell me,” Hank said.

“Cole got into a fight at school,” Connor replied.

“What?”

Connor held up his hands. “He was trying to stand up to a bully. Unfortunately, Johnny only shoved another student while Cole threw the first punch.”

“He punched another kid?”

Hank moved to lean against the back of the couch. He pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to figure out how his son could do such a thing.

“His heart was in the right place. He only reacted poorly. Johnny has been picking on several other kids for weeks. Cole had had enough.”

Hank sighed. “That only slightly makes it better.”

“I know. But Cole has apologized to Johnny and will serve in school suspension tomorrow.”

Hank nodded. “Okay.”

He knew what he needed to do next. He walked into the kitchen and sat down in the chair next to Cole’s.

“Hey peanut,” he said. “I heard what happened today.”

“I'm sorry, papa,” Cole said, still not looking at his father.

“Thank you. I appreciate that. And I understand wanting to stand up to a bully. But violence isn’t the answer.”

“I know, papa. Johnny’s just so… big and mean.”

“Doesn’t mean we get bigger and meaner.”

Cole nodded. Hank reached over and rubbed Cole’s shoulder.

“I love you, Cole. Your heart was in the right place. Next time, use your words and not your fists. Got it?”

“Yes, papa.”

“Good. Come here.”

Cole finally looked up at his father before throwing himself into Hank’s arms, crying against his father’s shoulder. Hank held his son and rubbed his back.

“It’s okay, peanut. I love you.”

“I love you, too, papa. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay. We all make mistakes. And we learn from them.”

Hank looked over to Connor who was watching them from the doorway. Connor smiled which caused Hank to smile back. Cole clung to his father and Hank held him just as tightly. He was a good kid. And even with what had happened, Hank was proud of him. 

**Author's Note:**

> You can follow me on twitter on my dbh @hanktitty or on my main @5ftjewishcactus


End file.
